Saturday, April 24, 2010

Seedlings update

You wouldn't think I could fall so horribly behind in just five days, but it is spring and things are happening fast! So there will be a lot of posts to come...

First, a little update on seedlings. I showed you our mudroom turned sprout-room a month ago. Now there are a lot of plants growing there!

That photo was from a week ago and I feel like there are twice as many plants as that now. That's because Jeremy had to move some to bigger containers. So the whole platform is covered in plant containers.

We put the peas outside a week or two ago and they seem to be doing well.

There are also four of those seed starting trays stacked in other areas of the mudroom waiting for sprouts to come up.

The weather has been wacky here in Minneapolis and is causing a lot of garden angst. Wacky in that it has been warm and lovely, as if we had spring or a long growing season - which we don't. People keep wondering if they should just go ahead and plant now, maybe there won't be a frost, maybe it will be okay. Some are forcing themselves to hold out till Mother's Day weekend before they plant. Our usual last frost date is the end of May. But this year, we haven't had temperatures below 40 in a couple weeks at least and there is no sign of frost in the future.

But I, like many other gardeners, still keep thinking it's too good to be true. Surely Minnesota will surprise us with a freak snowstorm or freezing weather or something. So we're scared to plant too much outside. And yet... this good weather is too good not to take advantage of! So I've seen a few vegetable plants going in the ground. Our next door neighbor even planted his beans.

And, as soon as we get some compost to mix in our beds, we'll start planting as well. Yay spring!!

5 comments:

carolynagain
said...

We've had the same tempting early spring weather here. I couldn't withstand the call of the warm weather anymore, and set out the tomatoes today. Your neighbor planting his beans now (in Minneapolis!!) makes me feel a bit better about this hope-trumps-good-sense move on my part.

I planted - and covered the most vulnerable. thank goodness for the row clips from Nichols Garden Nursery in Albany! they withstood 30-40 mph winds, and I was glad I put them over the tomatoes, peas, carrots and strawberries - especially when waking up two mornings ago to ice on the windsheild. Here in Oregon, it has been rain, rain, rain since I planted anything. But our strawberries are happily blooming under cover, and so are the tomatoes. the clips, row cover and hoops are a worthwhile investment that will last for years!

I remember Christine using the row covers too. We've actually got plans to build a big cold frame/greenhouse type thing over the top of our garden beds. Not till fall probably though. Hopefully that will help us extend the season in spring and fall - and the rest of the year keep out the squirrels!

Your Homesteader

This is the blog formerly known as “Northwest Meets Midwest,” where I shared about the absurdities and adventures of living in the Midwest (having moved here from the Northwest). But really, this blog has been more and more a story of how we’ve fallen into urban farming and homesteading. So read on and enjoy our adventures in canning, preserving, mushroom-growing, local/organic fanaticism, chicken raising, designing and constructing, sewing, and attempting a little self-sufficiency in our corner of Minneapolis.